A Day That Shook The World: HMS Sheffield sunk in the Falklands War

(Hulton Archive/Getty)

On 4 May 1982, HMS Sheffield was sunk off the coast of the Falkland Islands, killing 20 men - Britain's first major casualties in the war with Argentina.

The ship, which had been hit just above the waterline by an Exocet missile, took several hours to sink, after structural damage caused it to flaunder in choppy water.

Sheffield was the first major British warship lost in action for 37 years.

Watch original footage from the sinking in this British Pathé video, above.